Protest mellows on Thursday after tense night

Relive 1News' live updates on day 17 of the anti-mandate protests outside Parliament.

What you need to know:

- Protesters clashed with police again on Wednesday night after a group of protesters moved a concrete barrier to let more cars into the cordon.

- Police say in the coming days the focus will be on reducing the cordoned area even further.

- There's a concern of Covid-19 in the camp, after two protesters tested positive. The protest has since been identified as a location of interest.

5.30pm: Police have issued a warning to anyone planning on travelling to Wellington to join the protest - don't.

"The protest activity around Parliament grounds is unwelcome and having an unreasonably negative impact on residents, workers and students," assistant commissioner Richard Chambers says.

“Movements to shrink the protest footprint will continue in the coming days as our focus remains on returning the city back to normal as quickly as possible.”

Victoria University of Wellington Vice-Chancellor Professor Grant Guilford says the protest is also having multiple other impacts on the University community, including affecting students and staff who travel into the city by train and cannot connect with bus routes to University campuses due to the protest activity.

4.40pm: Police have stepped away from the concrete bollards, allowing protesters to once again move freely.

4.20pm: More images from outside Parliament.

4.10pm: An apparent sense of calm has returned after a "tense" first few minutes when police arrived this afternoon, according to one protester livestreaming the events.

4.00pm: Just under eight hours now until the country moves to Phase 3 of its Omicron response.

Here's what will change from 11.59pm today.

3.37pm: Footage from Lambton Quay from 1News reporter Kristin Hall:

3.35pm: Police have issued a warning over planned protest action organised by the Freedom and Rights Coalition, who has a presence at Parliament and is linked to Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki.

The group is organising a series of anti-mandate marches across Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington and Nelson. It includes a plan to walk across the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

"There has been no applications to have the Harbour Bridge closed to traffic," a police spokesperson told 1News.

"Crossing the Harbour Bridge on foot would be unlawful, and so police will be working to prevent this as it could be extremely dangerous to those walking on the bridge and to other road users.

"We will be contacting the organisers to begin dialogue with them around this and to set our expectations while also acknowledging a person’s right to lawfully protest."

3.24pm: Police have formed a line to prevent protesters from moving down further towards Lambton Quay.

Behind the police line, a forklift is moving concrete blocks into place.

3.23pm: Protesters are gathering around police and are chanting "peace and love" as police move and install the blocks.

3.10pm: Police with riot shields are making their way around the streets of Parliament.

There's a forklift on the way.

1News understands there are plans to install another 10 concrete bollards around the perimeter of the protest some time today.

2.50pm: An update on boosters: Just on Wednesday, more than 24,000 boosters were administered, representing about 68.2 per cent of the eligible population aged 18 and over.

Two studies recently released by the US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows getting vaccinated against Covid-19 protects a person from getting infected in the first place.

Bloomfield also cites a study from the Journal of the American Medical Association that shows the odds of contracting Omicron after receiving a booster dropped by 67 per cent compared to being unvaccinated.

“And for Delta the risk declined by a stunning 93 per cent. So yes, three doses of the vaccine doesn't just protect from hospitalisation and death, it protects people from being infected by Omicron,” he says.

2.15pm: While the number of protesters has reduced, there remains a number of structures and signs on Parliament's grounds.

A number of children can be seen playing basketball.

Children's Commissioner Judge Frances Eivers said earlier this week the anti-mandate protest on Parliament grounds is no place for children and encouraged caregivers to take their young ones home.

1.45pm: There are 6137 Covid-19 community cases in New Zealand on Thursday, the Ministry of Health announced. There was also one death of a person with Covid-19 at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital.

There are now 205 people in hospital with the virus, including two in intensive care.

1.20pm: Police say they continue to be concerned at the level of aggressive behaviour from protesters in Wellington.

In a statement on Thursday, police described how protesters moved bollards to let about 20 vehicles into the protest area and armed themselves with makeshift shields made of plywood and rope on Wednesday night.

"Police are collecting evidence of unlawful behaviour for further follow-up and possible prosecution."

Police say there are between 150 and 300 protesters at the site at different times of the day.

1.05pm: Ardern has been heckled by protesters again, this time during a visit to Christchurch.

1News political reporter Maiki Sherman described the scene as "ugly stuff" as the PM was rushed out of the school and a parent was also fighting with protesters.

It comes after Ardern was loudly heckled by anti-mandate protesters as she left an event in Westport on Wednesday.

12.40pm: There's at least 15,000 people identified as self-isolating in New Zealand right now, Bloomfield says.

12.25pm: Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield is urging close contacts at the Parliament protest to "do the right thing".

"I would expect them to do what we're expecting of all New Zealanders and that is to essentially do the right thing to protect other people, and that's the reason we've done well today is because New Zealanders have done that," he says.

Bloomfield added that he was concerned by the behaviour at the event, including singing and yelling without masks, "because we know exactly the sorts of things that are likely to spread this virus and so it puts people there at risk".

"Some of those people, especially because we know there are lower vaccination rates, will get unwell, and particularly unwell."

Bloomfield didn't have an update on the two confirmed Covid-19 cases, announced on Wednesday, who were at the protest.

12.05pm: Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says around 5000 new Covid-19 community cases are expected to be announced about 1pm on Thursday.

12pm: The Ministry of Health has identified the protest at Parliament as a location of interest.

Anyone who attended the protest on Saturday February 19, 11.55am to 11pm, or Sunday February 20, 11am to 11.59pm, is considered a close contact.

Anyone who attended at these times should self-isolate for seven days and test on day five after exposure at this location of interest. People should also monitor symptoms for 10 days and test again if symptoms develop.

11.25am: 1News understands there are plans to install another 10 bollards around the perimeter of the protest. There are currently 70 in place. It is unclear when the new bollards will be installed.

11.05am: "This protest must end. It will end, it is only a matter of when and how," Wellington Mayor Andy Foster says, describing the behaviour of some protesters as "vile".

"We're almost two years into a global pandemic that has upended plans, dreams, livelihoods, and businesses. It's prevented getting together with loved ones, sometimes it's prevented saying final farewells. Many people are stressed, tired, and sometimes angry and fearful.

"Directly associated with this, we have an unprecedented protest occupying the grounds of Parliament, surrounding streets and important public places. The protest is hurting local businesses, local schools, our ability to move about our own city freely, and it's causing anger and frustration in our community."

Foster also thanked police for the way they were dealing with the protest, as well as the council’s chief executive, management, and staff who have worked with officers.

"We are all working together around the clock to try to resolve and end this protest as quickly as possible, and as safely as possible, so that we can return this part of our city to Wellingtonians."

11am: Capital and Coast District Health Board told 1News it has "seen a number of people from the Parliament protest for a variety of reasons".

When asked if it was Covid-related, the DHB said it could not provide further detail about the cases.

10.50am: Speaking to media in Christchurch, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there will be a time and place to loosen Covid-19 restrictions "but when we remove them it will be because it's safe to do so".

"Seventy-five per cent of New Zealanders in surveys have said that they agree with the level of protection we have right now as Omicron cases increase, or think they should be strengthened," she says.

"So that is giving a very strong sense of where the majority of New Zealanders sit on the management of the pandemic and I think they would be extraordinarily disappointed if the Government was swayed by a much smaller minority who happen to be behaviour illegally on the forecourt of Parliament."

Ardern says any decisions "would be based on public health advice, not protest activity".

10.05am: A person who was in a taxi driving through the outskirts of the protest on Wednesday night told 1News himself and the driver were both left "shaken-up".

They were driving down Whitmore Street towards Parliament at 10pm when a lot of protesters began yelling, chanting "peace and love" and running around.

The protesters began diverting traffic and standing in front of cars.

"They were surrounding cars and chanting and banging on stuff and in general making a ruckus."

Their car was also surrounded, however, the taxi driver continued through.

The person in the car described the experience as "bloody freaky".

9.55am Police say in the coming days they’ll focus on reducing the cordoned-off area of the protest, to cut down the size of the protest.

9.25am: A 1News reporter in Wellington says there are even fewer protesters around the Cenotaph on Thursday morning - about five standing out by the concrete blocks playing Newstalk ZB, before a woman began shouting over a megaphone.

Some vehicles had moved up onto the concrete by the Cenotaph on the corner of Lambton Quay and Bowen Street, making it harder for passersby to get through.

8am: When asked what he thought of former MP Winston Peters touring around the protest site and former PM Jim Bolger urging a meeting with protesters, Seymour told Breakfast that everyone's got a right to have their say but "I don’t know what they're adding".

7.50am: Ngarewa-Packer agrees the protests are "a consequence of a manifestation of uncertainty, of huge frustration and no direction".

"So what the Government needs to do and should have done, not just for the people that are protesting in Wellington, for the rest of Aotearoa, is tell us what’s next," she says.

"What we need to know now is when does this end? When are you looking to do this? How are you going to provide this?"

When asked if she supports the protest, Ngarewa-Packer says the party can't support the white supremacist and threatening behaviour.

There are Māori flags at the protest too, which she says the two don't stand together.

"It'd be like David [Seymour] and I standing together, it would never happen."

7.45am: Seymour says the protest is the “concentrated form of the frustrations that people have up and down New Zealand”.

But he added that protesters can't talk about restrictions when they're hemming other people going about their business in Wellington.

"There has to be some conditions, clear the streets and then we can talk."

7.30am: Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and ACT leader David Seymour will appear on Breakfast about 7.40am to talk about the protests. Tune in at TVNZ1 or OnDemand here.

7.15am: Protesters are playing Newstalk ZB over a megaphone.

6.50am: Corrections have identified two sex offenders attended the protest.

In a statement to 1News, Corrections said there was no evidence the pair were in breach of their location or monitoring conditions by attending. However, both continue to be monitored 24/7 via GPS monitoring.

"We have identified that a small number of people subject to a community-based sentence or order with GPS monitoring have attended the protest during the last two weeks, with none in breach of their location or monitoring conditions. We continue to actively monitor the area to identify anyone subject to GPS monitoring who attends the protest," the statement says.

Police said earlier in the week there were reports of sexual assaults at the protest. Police urged anyone who'd been a victim of sexual assault to report it to them.

6.25am: On Thursday morning there are fewer tents alongside the old Government building on Whitmore Street.

Police have tightened security on Kate Sheppard Place from Mulgrave Street where rubbish is piling up once again.

There are protesters guarding each entry way into the occupied area.